>
> hi,
> i write for indian business weekly, businessworld. i am working on an
> article about the nature of development in andaman and nicobar. while i
> am there (between the 14th and 21st of this month), i need to meet
> ecologists working on the islands. i need to understand the impact of
> humans on the islands (where human habitation is allowed), as well as
> get a sense of how healthy the uninhabited islands are. also, if any of
> you knows people familiar with the water situation in the islands -- in
> terms of the range of solutions available before the local
> administration and the relative pros and cons, that would be just
> fantastic.
>
> pls mail me at mrajshekhar@... with any leads.
> regds
> shekhar
>
> This is the story brief...
> the andamans are facing a grave water shortage. apparently, the local
> adminsitration has started granting mass leave to its employees whenever
> it senses that a water crisis is looming so that they can return to the
> mainland. ever since india got colonised, population at the islands
> (where habitation is permitted) has been growing steadily. it has
> reached 4 lakh now. much higher than what the original population used
> to be.
>
> i find this interesting. the andaman economy is growing. attempts are
> underway to make it grow faster. a tourism boom is taking shape. hotels
> are coming up. Indians continue to leave the mainland for the islands.
> but the islands are now running into an environmental barrier to growth.
> seen like that, the islands are home to a much larger debate, is our
> growth environmentally sustainable? the greens insist it is not. free
> market supporters say that the markets will find a way. Be it shipping
> water from the mainland, or a desalination plant.
>
> I don't know which of the two views is correct. for its part, the govt
> is planning a fresh water lake, at the mouth of the river delta. there
> is one river that runs down the island into the bay of bengal. they are
> proposing to erect a massive sea wall that will ensure that the fresh
> water doesn't come in contact with the sea water at all. this, then,
> will be recycled. the other solution, of course, is to permit human
> habitation onto hitherto unoccupied islands. the island is a superb
> metaphor for india, and indeed, the whole planet. this is an issue that
> we will have to find solutions to in the years ahead. i thought it would
> be interesting to do a very comprehensive story on the islands.
>
> am planning to spend some time in the islands and talk to a cross
> section of people - everyone who is playing a part in this. the
> administration (their view of the economy and the steps needed to boost
> it, their view of the water problem and the steps being taken to solve
> it), the migrants coming from India to settle down there (the reasons
> they moved), the businesses coming in to set up shop (tourism and
> others, why are they coming in, their vision for the future),
> researchers studying the local environment (impact of human population
> on the islands, on the jarawas and other tribes, the importance of the
> islands themselves, biodiversity-wise)....
> cheers
> shekhar
>
>
>
>
>





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